Magician become

Despite my best efforts, I wasn’t the best magician at the age of 5.  Even over the next few years it became very clear that magic was hard work.  It took a lot of practice.  Soon my interest in performing it waned especially as I entered middle school and it wasn’t particularly “cool” anymore.

And so whilst I still enjoyed magic and learning new tricks it wasn’t until senior school when my real interest began to take shape.  David Blaine had just exploded onto to the scene in the late 90’s and public interest was on the rise.  Watching some of Blaine’s TV specials where the focus was on the audience reactions was a first for magic and a fresh approach in performing what were, in effect, simple tricks executed perfectly but viewed through the eyes of the audience.  The reactions were incredible and everyone was talking about magic.

I began performing tricks, naturally wanting to imitate what was popular on TV but I also wanted to create my own tricks and style.

One Saturday night when I was 18 I was in a local nightclub called The Republic in Sheffield where a friend of mine worked behind the bar in the VIP area of the club.  He had been kind enough to get some VIP passes for a group of friends and me and whilst in the VIP room there was a guest who had a pack of cards with him.  I can’t quite remember how it happened but I remember performing a few tricks for him and his friends and it turned out to be one of the owners of the club.  There was a few jokes made that I should start working for the club and a lady in the group asked me for my number to get in contact.

A few days past and she did make contact with me and invited me down to their offices to perform a few tricks for the Head of Promotion for the club.  After performing a few tricks he asked if I wanted to work for the club on a Saturday night across the VIP floor.

It sounded a great opportunity and soon enough I began performing on Saturday nights to increase my experience and widen my knowledge of magic.

Things all changed one evening when there was an unexpected guest at the club…